That momentum ballooned quickly. After a brief “team photo” celebration of Clifford’s goal, the Spartans, who are ranked No. 7 in the Class 1A coaches’ poll, were right back at it. Just five minutes later, a 2-on-1 break between midfielder Ben Summers and forward Ben Halloff formed, with Halloff finishing with a goal that extended Orono’s lead to 2-0.

With the late surge, the Spartans extended their winning streak to five games while handing Wright County Conference foe Waconia (7-1-0, 2-1-0) its first defeat of the season.

“We are starting to get better every game,” Engler said. “As we continue to grow, we feel we can do this throughout the season.”

But for Engler, the start to this season has been a bit of a surprise due to the lack of experience on the team.

“We have a team built with 60% sophomores,” Engler said. “I didn’t see this start at all. We were humbled early on, started 2-2 and I thought by the end of the year we would be a top-10 team.”

Clifford, a senior, said his class has tried to help with the younger players. 

“Our senior leaders have really come together and just taught the basic stuff to the sophomores,” he said. “We try to keep it calm and collected on the field, and with younger kids it gets frantic at times.”

The forward has noticed the difference in attitude and composure in comparison to last year, saying the team is playing less frantic than they had in the past.

It’s safe to say this Orono (7-2-0, 2-1-0) team has exceeded Engler’s expectations. And this win over No. 6-1A Waconia, the team that ended the Spartans’ season last year in the Class 1A, Section 6 tournament, shows the Spartans can deal some damage in October.

“Players didn’t need any help from the coaches to get hyped for this one and it showed. This was our most complete game of the season,” Engler said.